The Mighty Fall
by TheCritter
Summary: An existence built on lies has a hard time accepting simple truths. Not all moths fly towards flames, and not all sharks hunt wounded prey. KisamexOC
1. Chapter 1

An existence built on lies has a hard time accepting simple truths. Not all moths fly towards flames, and not all sharks hunt wounded prey.

Respectively Kishimoto owns his characters, as I own mine.

X

"This is a great honor that Tsunade-hime has bestowed upon you. And in return all of us as well. We trust in you to conduct yourself well as a member of this clan and as a shinobi of the Hidden Leaf."

Shibi was a man of few words, however Sachi was better off with far fewer.

"…are you listening Sachikoto?"

The orange haired girl jumped a bit while a few of the others in the crowd of Aburame clan members sighed. Rolling her neck to mask the sudden waking from her impromptu nap, Sachi pretended she had been listening all along. It was impossible to read Shibi's expression.

"Yeah, yeah Shibi-sama, I got it," said Sachi with a yawn, "I won't let the family down."

"Upon your success your name will be inducted into the Senior Annals of the Collectors."

Sachi sat straight as a board at the words, gold eyes flashing. "Seriously?"

Shino fidgeted beside his older cousin, the tension in the room was climbing steadily despite her nonchalance. "They mentioned it briefly at the beginning of the meeting Ane-san."

Sachi threw her hands up in the air and let out a voracious yell. Some covered their faces, some muttered to their neighbors, Sachi's eruptions were a fairly common, but altogether not anticipated. Shibi stared dispassionately forward while Shino smoldered with embarrassment.

Being named a Senior Collector was everything Sachikoto Aburame had ever wanted in life. To be a collector was to be one of the most decorated Aburame. It meant that not only were you a terrifyingly strong ninja, but one that could bring in the enemy _alive_. Essential for a village such as Konohagakure, which had an underbelly that thrived on the looted information of other villages and ninja. Succeeding now would mean that not only would she be the youngest Senior Collector in Aburame history, but the first in twenty years to actually gain the title.

Shino returned to his father's side as they all filtered out of the room. He was fully prepared to get a lecture about how ridiculous his cousin was and how important it was that he not be like her. Instead his father was chuckling softly.

"Father?"

"It's almost humorous Shino," his father said, "One of the most clever Collectors of the Aburame…and she's a complete idiot."

"She's one of the youngest Collectors ever…but she does sleep through every meeting," said Shino, attempting to defend his cousin and failing. He'd looked up to Sachi his entire life; she was four years older and was one of the most talented in his clan. On top of being one of the Hokage's hand picked ANBU. Despite her loud and often crude humor, her lack of seriousness and her all around playful demeanor, completely opposite of the typical Aburame, made her often a point of ridicule instead of pride.

"You're really serious about her induction if she succeeds?" asked Shino.

Shibi placed a hand on his son's shoulder as they escorted the last of the elders from the meeting building. "If she does well then yes. This is a high risk mission, and casualties are to be expected…"

"Do you believe she can do it?"

The evening sun caught his father's dark glasses and shined with a sharp glare. "I believe…that if nothing else the Akatsuki will not know what hit them."

Xxxxxx

"So…the bets are placed against me this time?" Sachi gripped her leg a little tighter; counting to one hundred with a foot over her head had gotten easier in the last couple of years. Her flexibility had gotten her out over more than one sticky situation that her mouth had gotten her into.

Shino sat with his plastic bug box beside him, the sun was slowly setting and fireflies were beginning to show up on the fringes of the training field. His cousin switched legs, holding herself perfectly still as she stretched. It was the only time she was still, usually she was leaping and bounding her and there, her twin braids floating through the air behind her.

"It is an S-class mission…"

"They're sending my whole team with me. I'm not doing this by myself. Anyway it's not like they can send Kakashi or something," replied Sachi haughtily, "_they_ already know his _tricks_. But mine…ha, they don't know what they're dealing with."

Shino fiddled with the strap of his box and said nothing. Sachi relaxed her pose, putting her hands on her hips and giving him a look. "Well?" She was dressed mostly in the regimented ANBU clothing, trading out pants for shorts and leg and arm armor for custom made gauntlets and grieves that held a great number of spring loaded daggers that could be released with a small pop of chakra.

"Well?"

Letting out an exasperated noise Sachi strode towards him. Ruffling his hair as if he were still a small boy instead of seventeen. "Collector! Doesn't that mean anything mister Aburame heir?"

He swatted away her hand and she laughed. Despite her teasing, the two were as close as real siblings after growing up together, there were no others close to their age in the clan. The Aburame were not overly coddling people so the only playmates they had were each other. Deep down Shino was worried for her, as she was for him.

With a practiced ease Sachi flipped herself over him and landed upon the beaten and chipped target stump he leaned against. "A Collector brings in a captive alive. Perfect for interrogation. This is your everyday pest control, this is high class strategy and tactics, perfect mission for me."

Shino rolled his eyes, "You're going up against Akatsuki."

"A bunch of crooks in cloaks."

"S-class criminals with unknown powers."

"far from unknown, ototo," said Sachi as she pulled out her bingo-book and waved it in front of his face. It was torn, tattered, but most of all, note-filled. If a target wasn't dead or captured there were scribbles and notes stuck all over the pages. She had only shown it to him twice before, and despite himself, he was rather impressed by it.

Sachi, since she was on her way toward being one of the most decorated Collectors, had an extended bingo-book, not just criminals from the Leaf data books, it also included lawbreakers from all the villages near and far. That and the reward money associated with each.

Sliding down to sit beside him she flicked through the pages quickly. "Last meeting we had we got to update these. Slowly we've been getting info on Akatsuki and this is where we keep it." Her golden eyes flashed under her forehead protector.

"Then this is top secret information?" asked Shino.

"Well yeah."

"Then why are you showing me?"

Sachi looked like she bit into a sour grape, "Why wouldn't I?"

"Father is right, you don't take anything seriously."

"Hey," Sachi punched him in the arm, "I do. I take you seriously don't I? I can't possibly bring in all of these guys by myself. That's why I tell you. Maybe you'll decide to be a Collector too one day. Or hell you might want some quick cash…"

Shino gave her a small smile and met her eyes over his dark glasses, "Thanks Ane-san."

Xxxxxxxx

"The targets are suspected to be deep in River Country, which makes this mission almost impossible," began the ANBU in the monkey mask, "We're going to start panning the hilltops first, long range communication is going to be rough for the transmitters if we go into the valleys. In case anyone runs into danger, light a flare. There are small bunkers located in the hills, they'll open with a simply release kata."

"How many days do you think we're going to be at this that we're going to need bunkers?" asked Sachi, the only one who wasn't wearing a mask in the small five-man team.

"We're to stay out until we can say without any hesitation where Akatsuki is moving," replied monkey mask.

"Then shouldn't we be headed to Kirigakure instead? That's their seat right?" asked the hawk mask.

"We have intelligence telling us that the might have another lair in River Country, along with secret routes that are helping them get to the different villages unseen since tracking is so difficult. We're going to break down those communication trails and try to hound them back into a corner," replied monkey mask.

"Who was the last to report Akatsuki in the area?" asked Sachi, her voice was steady and even. She could feel the soft wet press of the early morning dew settling around her. Waking up early had a tendency of making her more serious, and the fact that her reputation of Collector was on the line made her drop her usual funny and carefree demeanor for one of cynical dark humor. She'd been inducted into the Black Ops at fourteen for a reason.

"Kushima, he reported that it appeared to be a standard two man team," answered the tanuki mask.

"Uchiha Itachi and Hoshigaki Kisame were reported not too far from our first rendezvous point. We'll meet at those coordinates and try to pick up the trail from there," said monkey.

Without another word the group vanished into the early sunlight.

Xxxxxx

'Bringing in the Uchiha would mean I wouldn't have to work until the winter,' thought Sachi with a cold smile. She had slid down her dark sun-visor over her eyes, it was connected to her headband and allowed her to slip into the emotionless Aburame mask.

The amount of money in the bingo book for the two missing-nin would not only make her rich, but famous as well. But it would be hard earned cash; there was a reason that they were worth so much money in the first place.

"No one is to engage alone unless victory is assured," said the monkey as he rushed by beside her. She scowled, knowing that the comment was more or less targeted at her. She had a reputation of taking on more that she could handle more often than not.

However this time she had a secret ace up her sleeve.

'Those bastards won't know what hit them,' she thought as her team came up to their first rendezvous point. The group skidded to a halt at the fork in the road, the sun was just peaking up over top of them, they had spent the good part of the early morning just getting to River Country.

"Create a perimeter, we stop here for a moment," ordered monkey. Hawk, tanuki, and crane did as was bid while Sachi stretched out.

"Listen to me well Aburame, I don't want you engaging Uchiha Itachi," said monkey suddenly. Knocking Sachi out of her daydream of infinite cash.

"What do you mean? Are you crazy?" spat Sachi, "If I bring him in-"

"You can't. Not one person here can, not without a sharingan. We are just a tracking team," said monkey, his voice was sharp.

"That's a load of shit, you said if we get the chance we engage. I didn't come along just to tail these guys without taking at least one of them down!" hissed Sachi as her dreams of money and fame began to deflate.

"Both of them are out of your league," growled monkey. Sachi stomped her way over to him and grabbed him by the front of his armor.

"And since when we're you privy to what my _league_ even is?" whispered Sachi.

"You think just because you've got the title of Collector that you're so far above us. Newsflash bitch, you're not. Bringing in D and C rank criminals doesn't make you shit."

The kick happened so fast that hawk and tanuki barely stepped foot back into the clearing before monkey slammed against a tree and popped into a cloud of smoke. He reappeared at the other side of the clearing, far from Sachi, and adjusted his cracked mask.

"What the hell!" yelled crane as she rushed to monkey's side.

"Let me get one thing clear to you all, I'm here to bring in some Akatsuki ass, and if any of you get in my way…" The sun glared off of the dark glass that shielded her eyes. The other ANBU paced hesitantly around the scene.

Hawk held up his hands in front of him, "I'm with you Aburame-san."

Tanuki agreed quickly after him, which left them all to turn to the other two who stood farthest away from Sachi.

"_I'm_ still leader here, I call the shots," growled monkey.

"Tsunade-sama said we were to engage if possible, you going to cross her?" said Tanuki as he sat down to the side of the road and pulled out a chakra pill and a rice ball.

Crane and monkey exchanged a look and with a great level of distaste submitted. The two however refused to sit anywhere near the others while they ate a light lunch.

"Tell you what Sachi, you really did a number on him, his nose broke through his mask," said hawk as the three lounged.

"Ha, not my fault he's got a bigger nose than dick," said Sachi with a glance over her shoulder. Tanuki choked on his rice as hawk all but fell over in laugher. Sachi spared them a smile and dug into her spring roll.

Xxxxxxxx

The trail was better than anticipated, and it didn't take them long to fold into one tight v-shaped formation. Monkey was a gifted tracker and had sensed the two chakras far off into the distance. He assured them that their quarry would have no idea of them coming.

The sun was beginning to set, Sachi's stomach growled and her feet began to ache. But the anticipation of bringing in such a huge reward…

'this is it, this is going to make them all wish they'd been nicer to me. I'll pay off all my bills, rent an nice apartment, hell maybe even get a cat!' she thought to herself.

"They…they've split up!" said monkey suddenly. Hawk cursed under his breath loud enough for Sachi to hear, and the team came skidding to a halt.

"Aburame, Kentin, you head west, Namura, Jalin, you're with me," ordered monkey.

"Which target is which?" asked Jalin, who was wearing the crane mask.

"I can't tell, one of them is using a genjutsu and is masking it," answered monkey, "Now hurry up or we'll lose them."

"I can track ours I think," said Kentin, the hawk.

Monkey nodded, "we'll meet back here in one hour if nothing comes out of it."

Sachi and Kentin nodded and turned, racing back into the dense rocky cover.

Xxxxxxxx

Kisame absolutely hated the Land of Rivers. It wasn't because of its large leafy trees, or its unfriendly street vendors, it was a tad simpler than that.

"If I step on one more lose rock I'm going to flatten this goddamn mountain with my bare fists," he snarled as yet another foothold came loose under his sandal.

Running through River Country just wasn't that easy, it wasn't flat or gradually sloping like Konoha or Kiri was, it was all one giant hill that turned into another hill that turned into a rockslide into a raging river. It took someone who was used to the bumpy terrain to navigate it with any sort of speed.

On top of that the amount of time that he'd been stuck moving through the damn country had doubled now that it became the safest route to drop of vessels without being detected.

Of course that whole 'not being detected thing' just got blown out of the water. They were both lucky that the crows that Itachi had monitoring a radius around them spotted the ANBU before they were right on top of them.

"And now I have to fight in this godforsaken place," he grumbled aloud, he hadn't been able to eat in almost four hours because of the pace Itachi kept. To say that Kisame was in a grumpy mood was an understatement.

"This had better be a good fight," he mumbled just as his foot went out from under him. He slid, rather ungracefully to the bottom of a small ravine where a small brook babbled along happily in the failing light. He, of course, cursed the entire way down.

The temperature down near the water dropped and a cool breeze ruffled the edge of his collar and felt like fingers running through his hair. He almost enjoyed it, _almost_, until Samehada twitched against his back at the scent of chakra in the air.

Xxxxxxx

It was impossible to tell which of the two-man team they had been tracking until they were right up on them. Sachi and Kentin hid in a grove of hemlocks above where Kisame stood below. He knew they were there, just unsure exactly where.

Sachi flicked open her bingo book and skimmed the pages. Initially she'd been disappointed to see that Itachi wasn't the one she was tracking but whenever she pulled up Hoshigaki Kisame's page…

"Look at those zeros…momma's going to need a ride to the bank baby," whispered Sachi as her eyes went wide at the numbers.

"Don't get hasty, we still have to bring him down. You know what they say about him, he's like a tailed beast…without the tail," said Kentin.

Sachi stashed her book and flicked out a kunai from her holster. Golden eyes wide and sharp like a cat's beneath her tinted lenses. In her empty hand she whispered a few words and a moth took flight out of her palm.

"You know what they say, the bigger they are, they harder they fall."

_Review if it pleases you._


	2. Chapter 2

Thank you all to those of you who reviewed/favorite/alerted.

Respectively, Kishimoto owns his characters, as I own mine.

X

"Come in…team…co…come in team fatass…"

Sachi and Kentin stared blankly at one another, the transmitters in their ears buzzed in and out of life.

"Did he just…"

"I'm _going to murder you_!" snarled Sachi into her microphone. Faint laugher echoed over the transmission. Steam all but flew from Sachi's ears, of all things she could be called that was the one thing _off limits_.

"Don't blame me that it's huge…" came the garbled response over the radio.

"Say what you need to say. We're locked on a target!" interjected Kentin before things got _really_ messy.

"We…lost contact…"

"Sounds like they'll be heading back to the rendezvous point-" Kentin was cut off as the radio gave out a halfhearted squeak and died.

"Or they're dead," finished Sachi, who was still fuming.

"There is no wa-"

A shark made of water cut them both off and completely demolished the tree they were hiding in. Sachi let out an angry yelp as she flipped backward to try to gain control of her momentum. Kentin wasn't as lucky, twisting he smacked hard against the neighboring tree and slid to the forest floor in an ungraceful lump. _'…Oh god.'_

"Sorry, did I interrupt something?" Sachi's head snapped towards the owner of the voice and just barely dodged yet another shark missile.

Sachi wasn't quite sure what she expected, but this _sure_ wasn't it. Her eyes flicked between the Akatsuki and her fallen teammate quickly. When Kentin didn't get back up, or so much as twitch, she figured the worst was upon her. She was going to face an S-class ninja…alone.

'_Shit. Shit. Shit.'_

"Look here, I'm in a really bad mood, so lets end this fast," said Kisame as he clapped his hands together, preparing for another jutsu.

Sachi smirked beneath her sunglasses and gathered herself; there would be time to mourn when the job was done. _'I didn't think this fucker would be so…huge.'_ "You know, I'm in a pretty piss poor mood myself. And there is only one thing that's going to make me feel better."

The shark-like man gave a low chuckle, his chakra saturated the air, making it heavy and dense with moisture, "Oh and what might that be?"

Sachi spared one last look at her fallen comrade, and then straightened up, the small moth that had appeared early settled on her shoulder. Followed by another, and another…

"Watching them write me the check for your ass!"

With that she disappeared into a cloud of moths, fluttering in all different directions. Kisame grit his teeth. _'I hate genjutsu.'_

The forest fell silent, dust floated in the spears of sunlight that came down through the thick foliage. Kisame kept his eyes peeled and pulled Samehada off of his back. He wasn't quite sure if this was going to be a long ranged fight or…

A small white moth brushed by his cheek, and he rolled out of the way to avoid the slim blade that reflected off the ground and sunk into a tree trunk. Exactly where his head had been. Snarling he flashed through katas and in seconds the trees around him in a twenty-five foot radius came crashing down. While that cleared him some visibility, it was still hard to maneuver with all the rocks underfoot not to mention the steady slope down they had been caught on.

"Come out, come out wherever you are!" he taunted. _'If nothing else…I fight a kunoichi with a nice ass.'_

Sachi slid her katana out of its holster in one silent motion. Her heartbeat was thumping in her ears and sweat was gathering between her shoulder blades and under her breasts. But the reflection she saw looking back at her in her katana was one of glee, lips curled up at the edges in a impish way.

"Oi! Big boy!" She flipped herself up onto the stump she'd been hiding behind. "Looking for someone?"

In a typical Sachi-fashion she stuck out her tongue and whipped him off, almost biting her tongue off as he hastily retaliated_. 'Damn is he fast at katas!'_ she thought as she narrowly avoided his water prison. Firing off another blade from her right arm she dodged backward as he sped up to her. Sword out and coming down rather quickly towards her face. _'Awe but I like my face…'_

Springing back onto her hands she vaulted herself over him, summersaulting mid air and twisting to come down facing his back, she slashed at his now exposed back. Gasping in shock when it turned to water.

'_SHIT!'_

Sliding forward she just barely missed the massive swing of the great-sword, scuffing her knees as she slid on the uneven terrain.

'_How did he get behind me…'_

He didn't let her go far before he swung down again, this time all she could do to avoid it was to raise her katana. The weight of it smashed her against the ground, the exposed scales of the great blade shivering with anticipation to meet her flesh. She would have been lying if she said she wasn't a tad frightened by it.

"Sorry little moth, but I'm going to have to clip your wings," said the kiri-nin with a broad smile filled with sharp white teeth.

His smile faltered as the girl beneath his sword began to laugh.

"Guess again!" Raising her left leg out of the rubble an audible click resounded as out of the custom grieve as four blades shot out at the speed of light.

The weight of the great sword disappeared as Kisame was forced to dodge backwards out of the way. Looking back the girl who had been smashed into the rubble dissipated into moths once again.

"Hoshigaki Kisame, ex-ninja of Kirigakure, wanted on multiple accounts of manslaughter and well…you're in the Akatsuki, need I say more."

Sachi had disappeared once more into the darkening forest. Kisame gripped his sword even tighter, he was far from being exhausted, but his patience was wearing thin quickly.

"What is this? A court case?" he shouted into the twilight, "If you're going to accuse me isn't it polite to at least give your name?"

Dashing out of the way just in time to miss two more of her lightening fast blades he noticed something peculiar. All around him in the looming darkness small white moths began to flutter, just on the edge of the new made field he'd made earlier. It concerned him; they carried more chakra than just normal insects. So far the fight had been fairly even, the rough terrain had hindered him, but he had the stamina to keep going for another three hours. _This_ little moth did not.

"My name is Aburame Sachi, Collector of Konohagakure," came her voice from the darkness. Twisting he brought up Samehada just in time to meet her attack from above. She'd come at him feet first, long blades sticking out from her heels. Upon meeting his blade she disappeared into a flock of moths.

'_Goddamn bugs!'_

"And I'll be taking you alive," she whispered in his ear as she flashed a particularly long blade that appeared from her gauntlet. Attached to it was a long piece of red fabric that quickly wrapped itself around his arm like a snake. With a quick flick of her wrist the blade wedged itself into the rocky ground, she fazed away, moths fluttering in her wake.

"A Collector? Been quite some time since I've fought one of yo-" his voice stopped abruptly and his eyes went immediately to his bound arm.

"Thrash all you want, no flies get out of my trap," hissed Sachi as she prepared another blade/ribbon combo.

Kisame looked down at his arm in disbelief; no matter what he did he couldn't pull it free, it felt like it was in a vice like grip. The harder he pulled, the tighter it got. Desperation swelled up in him and he swung Samehada to cut through the simple ribbon.

"Not so fast."

Another blade and ribbon twisted itself up around his sword-arm mid-air, dragging it to the ground as the blade sunk deep into the rocky earth. Samehada fell from his grip as his arms collapsed numb to his sides. Then, quickly another ribbon flicked itself around his torso, over his shoulder, down over his thigh, around his neck.

'_What the fuck?!'_

"Looks like I caught something in my web," whispered Sachi, appearing in front of the Akatsuki nin. Curling her hand into a fist she aimed right for his nose.

"This for Kentin."

Xxxxxxx

The missing nin hit the ground with a loud thump, a satisfying sound, and Sachi soaked it in for the millisecond before she retched all over the rocks at her feet. Her light lunch came up with such force she wasn't sure what had happened until it was over.

Falling to her knees she shook so violently her vision blurred.

'_Oh my god…'_

Monkey hadn't been lying when he said that Hoshigaki was out of her league. _'I'm not…his chakra…'_

Staring wide-eyed at the red ribbons that held the ninja in question, who was for all intents and purposes was knocked out cold, she swallowed thickly. Shuddering she stood over him, taking in the scene.

"Shit, Kentin!"

Rushing over to the other ninja's side did little. His neck was bent at an angle that was far from fixing. Slowly she removed his hawk mask and closed his eyes. She closed her own and gave a small prayer, to whatever was listening.

Overhead the sun had finally set and the dark sky crackled to life, lightening streaking out across the inky black clouds. The soft pattering of rain in the distance grew closer.

'_Goddamnit!'_

xxxxxxx

It took her longer than she wanted to bury Kentin. It wasn't protocol, but she couldn't bare the thought of wild animals eating him. The thought was almost enough to make her puke again, that is if there was anything left for her to throw up.

She was soaked to the bone by the time she had the shark-nin properly bound up. Her chakra ribbons had come in handy; he didn't even notice the small black moths that had provided the sticking points on his clothes for the jutsu. He was too worried about he small white ones to notice them.

'_Probably wouldn't have worked in the daylight,'_ she mused to herself as she picked up the hilt of his sword. Immediately dropping it when razor-sharp blades cut into her palms. "What the hell!"

The great sword let out a hiss and Sachi just about peed herself.

"Oh my god the sword is alive. It's alive!" she shrieked and took a few quick steps back.

Gathering her wits she quickly wrapped up her hand, then gingerly pulled the sword by the very tip of the grip back over to the knocked out ninja. Rolling him over onto his back she carefully strapped the sword to his back again (thankfully without any more outbursts).

Pleased with her work her satisfaction soon faded. Hoshigaki Kisame was one large sonofabitch. The sadness of loosing Kentin doubled now that she realized that not only did she have to deal with Hoshigaki by herself, she was going to have to drag him alone.

Sucking up her pride she lifted one of his huge arms over her shoulders and her legs almost giving out at the weight.

"Seriously, you are the heaviest sonofabitch I've ever captured," she mumbled as she rain came down harder.

Xxxxxxx

Kisame had only blacked out a few times in his life, half of the time was because of alcohol, and the other half was ill-fated whacks to the domepiece. This occasion happened to fall into the latter category.

However, in direct contrast to that latter category, none of those times had he ever woken up to a girl, in her underwear who looked like she had just come out of the ocean's spray.

"HOLY SHIT!" the girl yelped as she shoved her shirt back down over herself. "THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?"

"_I'm_ not the one _stripping_!" he shouted back as his eyes adjusted to the firelight and his head throbbed. _'Where the hell am I…?' _He attempted to rub his sore head but his hand felt too large for his arms and he only ended up poking himself in his own eye with his thumb. _"Sonofabitch."_

"Well excuse me for trying to dry my own goddamn clothes!" snarled the orange haired girl. Rolling onto her back she slipped back on her shorts, of course not before flashing him a great view of her panties.

"Mm teal string bikini, nice," he commented dryly.

"I swear I'm going to gag you if one more thing comes out of your mouth!" she hissed as she furiously buckled up her shorts.

In the time it took her to zip up her shorts he found all of the sealing ribbon located around his person. She'd done a good job, arms, legs, hell even his neck, was tightly sealed. Even Samehada got a nice red bow.

On top of being wrapped up like a present he had a throbbing headache and his nose felt clogged. _'Probably with blood, this bitch hits like a bull.'_

"Where the hell are we?" he said, peering around into the darkness that surrounded them. They were in a small cubical, was barely five foot by five from the looks of it. With one vent on the ceiling and another somewhere else, where he assumed they came through. _'Gods…my head._'

"A bunker in River Country," she snapped, her golden eyes piercing her.

"Can you not shout, I've got a killer headache," he hissed, this time his bound hands found the bridge of his nose. He sighed then with a resounding crack, set his nose back into place. He'd be lying if he didn't enjoy the shudder she gave at the sound.

"Yeah I'm not really that sorry about that," she said blatantly, "after all you did _kill_ my comrade."

It did not go unnoticed to Kisame that she said 'comrade' instead of 'friend' which was strange considering she was a leaf shinobi and they tended to be the softest around.

"Well my apologizes, next time I'm being ambushed I'll make sure to be a bit more polite during my introduction," he snapped back. The two stared at each other in the flickering firelight.

"How did you know…" he began.

"That you were in River Country?" she finished with a toothy smile, "Call it woman's intuition."

Kisame rolled his eyes and tried to adjust himself, the sealing ribbons really were a drag. He felt fatigued and worst of all…

"So…if I gotta piss, you gonna hold it for me?"

Granted he said that mostly to see what she'd do as a reaction. He was _not_ displeased.

"You know I _knew_ you Akatsuki were _scumbags_…_BUT YOU ARE A PIG!" _

She continued to rant for a few more moments before she realized he was chuckling to himself.

"And just _what_ is so _funny_?" she snapped, hands on her hips.

"Are you _sure_ you're an Aburame? Because you're much more like an Uzumaki," he commented wryly.

He didn't expect her to narrow her eyes and give him an even dirtier look.

"You're lucky I'm just a Collector and not an interrogator, because I don't think I would be too kind to you."

"Well I'm just over here, bound in fear," he said raising up his tied up hands, feeling pretty good about his pun.

"You don't see me as a threat at all do you?" said Sachi; crossing her arms over her chest she gave him a cold look.

The large ninja before her gave a deep rumbling laugh, the kind you feel deep inside your gut. Sachi gave a small shiver at the magnitude, since waking up; his presence seemed to take up more space than his actual body. _'I need to be cautious…no matter what.'_

"I've been in Akatsuki for years, a member of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist. No little moth, you're more of a small biting fly," he said with a wink. He rolled his shoulders and like a great tomcat full after a hunt, settled down for what appeared to be a nap.

"Come morning we're heading back to Konohagakure, where they will give me a large sum of money for you, and you will be interrogated and executed. In the scheme of things it doesn't really matter if you find me threatening," said Sachi as she gave him one last glare before she began rooting around in one of her packs.

"And if I refuse to walk?" he said, his eyes remaining closed, his posture relaxed.

"We won't be walking."

Kisame gave a snort, he wasn't sure if in general he found her annoying, or just whenever she opened her mouth. Either way he knew he had to rest, otherwise he was never going to figure out a way to break through the strange chakra bonds on him.

The crunch of a cracker, however, broke all of his plotting. Creaking an eye open he watched with sudden fascination as the kunoichi before him nibbled on rations. Before she could notice him watching he quickly shut his eyes, he figured that he could devour a whole stack of beef ribs, but why give her that knowledge.

"You hungry?"

Certain that she was going to just play a game of keep away with him he ignored her. _'If I don't talk maybe she won't.'_

Kisame clearly didn't know Sachi Aburame at all.

"Here," came her sharp voice as the wrapper to the crackers settled over his bound hands. Eyes peered open and half of the packet of food sat gently on his relaxed fists. The kiri-nin's frightening features twisted up into one of puzzlement, while the moth-nin gave a small giggle.

Sachi reclined, stretching out her unimpressive height and settled in to rest through the night. _'If he want's to play the 'I don't give a shit about you' routine, so can I. _She put her arms behind her head she fingered a small hidden blade and gave a large yawn.

"Why are you feeding you're captive?" he asked bluntly.

"I carried your ass once today, I have no intention of malnourishing you to the point of doing that again. I'm a Collector, not a sadist."

If Kisame hadn't already been thoroughly confused by the events of the day, he sure was now. Never in his life had he ever expected to be captured, well at least not by _one_ person. Nor did he ever, in his wildest imagination, imagine he would be treated with even a scrap of dignity or respect once captured.

Kisame frankly didn't expect to be treated like a human being.

"You're a strange one," he mumbled as he sheepishly ate what was given to him.

"Strange in the 'intriguingly beautiful' way? Or the 'she might kill me and wear my skin' way?" Sachi asked dryly, feigning sleep.

"The latter," answered Kisame, trying not to lick the wrapper.

Sachi snorted, at least Hoshigaki Kisame wasn't the type to scream and cuss for hours, he had a sense of humor. At the very least, it would be an amusing mission.

Xxxxxxx

Sachi hated dreams, mostly because for her dreams were never good things. That is unless she ate enough cake that she passed out, which had happened on her twenty-third birthday after she had dumped her boyfriend of one and a half years. Those dreams had been seriously trippy.

The dream she had in the cramped bunker of the River Country was more of a memory than an actual dream. She was seven years old, in the Aburame private training grounds with her father.

"If you grip the end too tightly like this," he began with his demonstration, "Then your blade is more likely to move end over end. You need a much more even grip."

Sachi had almost mastered the art of kunai throwing, but she watched patiently as her father instructed. Gods only knew when it would happen again.

Morioki Aburame was not a happy man; Sachi couldn't remember the last time she heard him laugh. Perhaps that's why she was such a stand out amongst her clan, she just wanted to see her father smile.

"Now when you find your target, don't look at your knife. That's not what the goal is, the goal is the target," he continued in his soft voice. He always had a soft voice; never did he raise it above a normal speaking level. No matter what Sachi did, he was always soft and sad.

A large moth fluttered free in the field, meandering in flight it fluttered from flower stalk to stalk. Sachi had seen them before in books, had read the passage about them aloud to her younger cousin Shino who had begged her to show it to him. Lovely dark wings with yellow eyespots that glittered like gold in the sun, and like silver in the moon.

"Just focus on your target, think of nothing but, and throw."

The kunai moved at a blinding speed, catching the moth mid flutter, severing wing from body. Sachi watched with wide eyes as the creature fell pathetically to the ground. For a moment the awe surrounding her father broke and she rushed after the wounded creature.

"Why…why did you have to…" she stammered as she watched it wiggle in the tall grass. Its face was emotionless, but the way its furry little legs pitifully grasped at anything at all made her gut twist up.

"It is just a moth, Sachi," said her father patiently; "There are many dead and pinned in the study."

Sachi cupped the insect in her hands, staring down as it vibrated sadly in her palms. "But they're…complete. This one…it's broken now, it can't be pinned now, and it can't fly."

"Sometimes, bad things happen for no reason, things break that cannot be fixed."

Sachi Aburame hated her father.

_Review if it pleases you._


	3. Chapter 3

Thank you all to those of you who reviewed/favorite/alerted! I am very pleased that you are finding this story entertaining as well as interesting.

Respectively, Kishimoto owns his characters, as I own mine.

X

"Oi, I thought you said we weren't walking?"

Sachi's back hurt, her mouth had a funny taste, and after dreaming about her father she was in what one may refer to as a "poor mood." So listening to a certain ex-Kiri-nin complain was low on her list.

"Shut up," she hissed, pushing him forward down the overgrown trail.

"No need to push, I can walk," Kisame grumbled. He on the other hand had slept heavily. He blamed it on the chakra ribbons that constantly siphoned chakra from him. He slept like a baby because he had the chakra capacity of one.

They came upon the clearing from the fight the previous day. Kisame quickly noticed the pile of rocks over where he'd killed the girl's teammate. _'Wonder if she's still sore about that.'_

The girl in question didn't even look at him; instead she found a rather clear patch of pine needles and performed a summoning ritual. When the smoke cleared Kisame was only half surprised when a huge moth emerged. It fluttered its huge wings, they had the color and pattern of tree bark and if it wasn't so huge it could have easily disappeared within the foliage.

"Sachi-chan!" said the creature in a high-pitched, musical voice.

"It's good to see you too Chiriga-san," said the girl, her voice seemed hollow, and had none of the spunk it had previously.

The moth fluttered its wings again, dust seemed to fall from them, upon closer inspection it was many, many more tiny moths. Very similar to the ones he'd seen her use the day before.

"Ohhhh," said the moth, "There is so much death here Sachi, what is going on?"

"Mission as usual Chiriga. Can you tell me about the moths I planted on my teammates? One is dead, I was with him, but I don't know about the other three," asked Sachi as she ran a hand through the thick ruffle on the moth's head. Kisame wasn't really sure how the moth was speaking, he couldn't see a mouth…

"Hmmm… they are dead too," replied the moth as she wiggled her furry antennas and shook her wings again, "I do not have a good feeling Sachi-chan…"

"Me either," whispered the girl, leaning low she looked into the great bulbous eyes of the insect, "I need you to at least get us close to the border. This is a top secret mission, high risk."

The moth buzzed its wings and its large furry antennae swept the air in front of her.

"He's going to be very heavy…" squeaked the moth. Kisame winked at the pair.

"We don't have to go fast, just steady," said Sachi. Turning she put her hands on her hips and scowled.

"I can't imagine that little ball of fluff actually being able to carry us both," said Kisame, who planted his feet.

"She can, and will, now get on," snapped Sachi.

"Oh no, bugs freak me out."

Sachi looked about ready to pop a blood vessel, she unsheathed her kantana and placed it very deliberately at his throat. "Listen here. You get on the moth. I get on in front of you. We leave."

'_This woman is a terror,' _thought Kisame, "Fine, fine. But if we start rapidly declining in altitude you're hitting the ground before me."

Sachi snorted and directed him to his position on the large furry back of the moth. He didn't like the way it quivered beneath him but kept his mouth shut. The konoha-nin jumped on in front of him, legs circling the thick moth body.

Without warning the moth bounce up and into the air, it's wings fluttering rapidly as it moved up over the trees. Much to Sachi's chagrin she slid backwards into Kisame, who snickered and clutched the back of her armor.

"What the hell are you doing?" she hissed through the wind at him.

Kisame couldn't help himself, leaning down in close to her ear he retorted, "Just holding on. If you untied my hands I'd hold onto your hips, I'm sure I could get a _nice_ grip. Then you wouldn't have had to slide back into me."

Sachi growled under her breath and tried to scoot away from him unsuccessfully. She heard him bark in laughter and press himself up against her back, knuckles pressed firmly into her lower back, he all but smoked for how warm his body was. Sachi hated that it felt kind of good on her sore back.

An hour and a half into the flight the moth had to rest, nodding its furry head it poofed away. Wordlessly Sachi made a perimeter and tried her best to ignore the large missing-nin who for all intents and purposes, was treating this like a vacation. It was hard to watch him be so nonchalant knowing that her entire team was dead.

"Maybe before we get to Konoha we can stop at those hot springs, you know the ones beside that big waterfall. I forget the name, but I hear they're pretty nice, even have couple pools you can rent out for honeymoons."

'_His chatter is relentless,'_ thought Sachi as she groaned aloud. _"Fucking honeymoons._ What the hell do you think this is?"

"I think it's a nice trip by air, that is if we could stay in it for more than two hours," retorted Kisame who was munching down on some of the rations Sachi ordered him to eat. Not that she really needed to order him, he was starving.

The girl in question was having a day that was going from bad to worse. _'First that horrid dream of my father…and now…'_

She couldn't help but grimace at the thought of her _almost_ wedding, and it's _almost_ honeymoon.

"What has your panties in a twist, you were all smiles and daggers yesterday. Has my presence really been such a raincloud?" asked Kisame when she didn't respond to his teasing. If there was one thing that Kisame was able to count on, it was his ability to easy piss her off, which was kind of cute in a potentially dangerous sort of way.

Sachi ran a hand back through her bangs, tousling them around her headband. "I had a _shitty_ dream last night. I have a _shitty_ capture and now you had to bring up _shitty_ memories about _shitty relationships!"_

"Hey now," began Kisame who waved his tied hands at her, "I think I've been more than accommodating. I got on that fuzzy deathtrap, been nothing but civil and even let you feel me up while we rode! How am I supposed to know you have such shitty…stuff."

"_I did not feel you up_!" snapped Sachi as she furiously threw the rations wrapper at him.

"Well _something_ got up," he said with a wink. Sachi folded her arms over her chest and looked away, face flushed and angry. Kisame's laughter rung off of the surrounding trees.

"Well we've got time to kill," he said after some time, "What's with you and the hatred of the word honeymoon? I thought girls liked that kind of stuff."

"I'm not a _girl_," snapped Sachi who refused to look at him, "I happen to be a full grown _woman_, and my distaste for _domesticity_ has _nothing_ to do with _you_."

"Ah so it's _marriage_, not _sex_ you're afraid of," responded Kisame as he settled back against his chosen rock.

"Ha! I'm not _afraid_ of it, I just don't _want_ it," Sachi said, squeezing her eyes shut she wished over and over he'd just shut up.

"Sounds like someone was burned and is twice shy," said Kisame slyly.

Sachi leapt to her feet, brandishing her katana again, "_Look_! You're a freaking _missing-nin_ from Kirigakure, I am not discussing my past relationships with _you_!"

"Oh I'm getting to _like_ it when you pull a sword on me," purred Kisame, "it means you want me to _do_ something."

"_Hell yes_ I want you to do something! That something is; _shut up_!" shouted Sachi. A few birds took off from their roosts and tweeted their discomfort.

Kisame just chuckled and winked at her again. "If I shut up how will my partner find us? Granted you're making enough noise to attract an army but…"

'_Shit!'_ thought Sachi, _'He's been using me! Way to go Sachi!'_

Without another word she summoned another moth, did a quick quiet introduction and ordered him onto it.

"Again with this? We would go a lot faster if we just walked," he groaned as he saddled up.

"Shut up, I thought you liked my ass against you," she hissed.

"Ah there's the sass. I knew this was going to be fun," said Kisame as the pair took off again.

"You didn't know shit," snarled Sachi who was doing her best to monitor their surroundings from the sky.

Xxxxxxxxx

As much as Kisame disliked being in the air, it wasn't so bad being smashed together on the back of an overgrown insect. It was almost like they liked each other. Granted Kisame had a certain liking to certain parts of Sachi, but overall he didn't find himself getting _too_ attached.

"Why can't we have a fire," he whined.

"You know damn well why. One more word about it and a nice piece of cloth is going to find a snug home deep inside your face-hole," snapped Sachi who huddled down into the small stone outcropping, the only shelter she could find.

"Which piece of cloth, it's dark, I want to imagine what it looks like and where it's coming from. Perhaps it's a piece of _intimate_ cloth. Maybe I won't _mind_ it in my mouth," Kisame purred in her ear.

Sachi elbowed him in the gut, which made him cough a little.

"You're pretty rough, is that why you don't marry?" asked Kisame, catching only the glint of moonlight off of her forehead protector as she turned to insult him back.

"Can…can you give that a rest," she said quietly, "it's getting old."

Now Kisame was faced with a real dilemma. Up until this point all of his teasing had bounced off what he liked to think of as her armor-of-sass, which had entertained him quite a bit on this journey. It had almost completely distracted him from his attempts of escape. However, now he was suddenly tossed a bone that wasn't as juicy as the others.

"I like it better when you snap at me," he said in a huff, "_Women_."

"Don't you '_women'_ me! It's you _men_ that are the problem! Strutting your stuff acting like you got it all figured out when it's nothing but a sham!"

"Well excuse you, but I don't advertise anything I don't got. Not my fault that the sissy-konoha men are so soft!" he snorted.

Sachi gripped the front of his cloak, pulling him roughly towards her. In the dim light he could still make out the whites of her eyes and the reflection of the moon. _'She's got…really clear eyes.'_

"Would you shut up? I'm not talking about this with you; you're not talking about this to me. Got it? Go to sleep," she hissed, releasing him and turning way.

Kisame was silent for a few ticks.

"Aren't you cold? You don't have a cloak or a fire. River country is cold at night."

"I swear to the gods…" she muttered softly to herself as she curled tighter.

xxxxxx

This routine continued for two more days before Kisame flat out refused to get up in the morning without some serious death threats. Not that Sachi could blame him, they were making crappy time and patience was wearing thin. Along with her chakra ribbons, day-by-day she could feel his intense chakra building itself back up. It wouldn't be long until he found his way out of them.

'_I need to find Konoha,'_ she thought to herself as she swatted a yet another biting fly.

"Seriously, just kill me. Or let me go so I can kill you, this is tedious," complained Kisame. The excitement had worn off a day ago. Now he was tired, hungry and really wanted to be out of his dirty clothes.

"I swear we're almost there," she muttered to him. They were ambling along a small rocky creek.

'_Where the hell is Itachi? Is he deaf as well as blind?'_ Kisame thought for the billionth time that day. It was quite clear that this kunoichi was lost, but the Uchiha… _'He's probably lost too; he has the directional capabilities of a blind elderly woman in a round room.' _Kisame was coming to terms that he might have to chew his way out of his constrains.

'_I bet they taste like mothballs,'_ he thought grimly.

_Review if it pleases you._


	4. Chapter 4

I am so overwhelmed that so many of you have interest in this story. I apologize for the slow update and hope to get back on track soon!

Also the moth to be mentioned in this chapter is one that I have in my own personal collection and can personally attest to its beauty as well as tenacity as a member of the sphinx moth family. Almost every sphinx I've personally caught was caught because it dive-bombed myself or a member of my family. They're completely harmless and rather silly creatures. Perfect for Sachi.

Respectively, Kishimoto owns his characters, as I do mine.

X

The sun was beginning to set, the trees all looked the same, the rocks all looked the same. Everything they had past in the last two days had looked exactly the same. Sachi was ready to kill Kisame; Kisame was ready to kill her, when out of the shifty shadows a voice broke their violent thoughts. The exchanged a confused look, they were knee-deep in River Country, which didn't have it's own shinobi fighting force.

Sachi peered into the dense foliage around them.

"You heard that right?" whispered Sachi.

"You bet. They with you?"

"No. You?"

"Nah."

Sachi broke out in a cold sweat. She had picked at her nails through much of the extra briefing for the mission, but she had remembered a particular nugget of info. Amegakure shinobi were rumored to have been using River land to move through. Most likely doing the same thing that Sachi was doing. However, the reports coming back from the Water country was not reassuring ones as far as the alliance between the two countries went.

"We've _got_ to get out of here," said Sachi.

"And where do you think we should go? There are mountains on either side of us and there is no bloody way I'm racing up those any time soon," grumbled Kisame as he motioned to his bound hands that had already impeded his balance for walking on flat land, let alone sheer rocky hills.

Sachi grabbed his cloak and forced him to meet her eyes, "Those are most likely Kiri-nins. You think they'll be particularly pleasant to one of their most notorious criminals? At least with me you'll get a chance to see the inside of a jail cell."

"Not willing to collaborate with an ally of the Leaf?" asked Kisame skeptically.

"_Hell no_, Konoha writes my checks. I won't get jack squat from these guys. Probably just a fast pass to the afterlife and a shallow unmarked grave," said Sachi with a dry chuckle.

"But you took down a full-fledged Akatsuki member, shouldn't some no-name Kiri-nins be nothing to you?" asked Kisame as he attempted to walk backwards from the oncoming voices.

"Pff, come on. Lets be honest…" grumbled Sachi as her eyes went wide and she shoved Kisame off the path and behind a tree, "I got lucky because you stared at my ass the entire fight."

Kisame didn't get a chance to agree because Sachi then threw herself up against him, flattening him rather awkwardly against Samehada and the tall tree behind him. He almost made another crude joke but Sachi flashed through hand signs and he could feel the soft fluttering of wings as a genjutsu of disguise-oriented moths settled over them. _'Moths. Always moths.'_

The owners of the voices came into view seconds later. They were obviously moving through the area and hadn't sensed either of them. Kisame didn't dare move a muscle; he was going to live only as long as his captor decided. She was right, if a Kiri-nin got a hold of him, there wouldn't be an interrogation, just a beheading. He was going to pick being covered in moths with a kunoichi's ass grinding into his groin any day over a beheading.

Part of him suddenly appreciated the tenacity of the moth shinobi named Sachi. She could have just left him to rot with the Kiri-nin, but decided, for reasons all her own, to save his hide as well as hers. Granted if they both survived this and managed to find their way to Konoha she was going to get paid for his hide. _'To each their own I guess.'_

But the genjutsu was taking a heavy toll on her. He could see her arms shaking as they kept the tiger sign to keep the illusion going. Sweat had beaded on her face and her body as she watched the two opposing ninjas with every fiber of her being. Flat out; she was doing everything she could not to get them caught.

When the two were finally out of sight Sachi canceled the jutsu and had to grab a fistful of Kisame's cloak and the nearby tree to keep her feet under her. _'That used up way to much chakra…' _

"Good move there thought for sure they'd have sensed us but I guess Amegakure really isn't what it used to be…"

Kisame watched as the Aburame pitched forward and fell with a dull thump to the forest floor. He stared down at her, astounded, flabbergasted, amazed…

And then he tore into his bonds with his sharp teeth like a five year old does birthday cake.

Xxxxxxx

The first insect that Sachi ever caught was a Small-Eyed Sphinx, otherwise known as _Paonias myops. _To any other clan that meant nothing, to the Aburame it meant _everything_.

Sachi wasn't the heir to the Aburame clan name, but she was technically a high-ranking member. Her mother was the sister to Shino's father, which is what made the two so close. However Sachi didn't come into the Aburame name like Shino had. He had an obvious talent for the chakra beetles that lived under the skin of most of his clan. Sachi did not.

She had ignored the disappointed stares and apologetic looks. Bugs crawling underneath her skin had never seemed very appealing anyway.

For those in the Aburame clan that didn't automatically take to the parasitic beetles, a test was constructed to find a much more willing insect ally. Young ninja were given a net that had a special fiber that only worked when chakra was pushed through it. For days the youngsters would run around with their nets, furiously swatting at every insect they found until one finally would get stuck in the chakra-sticky threads.

It had taken Sachi the better part of a week to find her companions. Initially the elders had pushed her towards butterflies, bees, anything that seemed to fit a young kunoichi. Yet every one of those insects found its way out of her net and by the end of the day she would collapse exhausted from pushing so much chakra into her net and utterly humiliated.

It wasn't until she had forgotten to blow out a candle at night whenever she got up to use the bathroom that she had her big break. It was there she saw a soft little white moth flitting around the flame. However when she returned with her net the moth was gone. She was feeling not only useless, but a failure to the entire family.

Until however a soft buzzing sound was heard and a distinct 'whap!' was felt as a furry cannonball smacked her upside her head. She swatted at it, more out of instinct and miserable fury than actual deliberation and low and behold the buzzing moth was trapped inside of the net!

From that day forth that night was referred to as The Night of the Moth since Sachi then ran around the entire compound showing off her catch. Even if it was three in the morning. For the first time in her life Sachi was congratulated and welcomed as a true Aburame.

It was one of the last times she remembered her mother and father being together. It wasn't long after that that her mother was taken from them both. And life was never quite the same.

Moths were never something that was highly praised, however, they didn't sting or bite. Half of their species didn't even have mouths, but Sachi didn't care. As soon as she could summon her own companion moths via the kuchiyose jutsu she didn't go anywhere without one of her little fluttering friends.

Sachi wasn't sure why she was thinking about all of this, her mind just ran through it on its own. Her body felt miles away and distinctly…at peace. Her mind was filled with the image of the small dark moth with the funny shaped wings that had crawled all over her hands. She had been so happy then, to feel its little soft feet…

"Oi! Hey why are you smiling?"

The voice broke the serenity that had fallen over Sachi, shattered it like a piece of glass; the image of the curious little moth broke apart and dissolved. Her gut clenched, and whatever was still left in her stomach came out violently.

"Kisame…" chided Itachi as the girl violently heaved.

"Don't look at me. I didn't do anything," he said as he stood over the girl. Frankly he was kind of embarrassed for her, puking wasn't an elegant thing.

"Oh gods…" she finally muttered as she wiped her mouth on the back of her hand. Her eyes were foggy but she was fairly certain she was seeing two different pairs of feet, not that her vision was doubling.

"Come on, to your feet girlie," came Kisame's voice. She peered up at him, he didn't offer a hand and Sachi decided that if he had she would have spit on it.

'_Things have gone terribly wrong.'_

Sachi debated trying to shimmy away while their attention was averted, but the ground and sky kept shifting places and she wasn't sure where her feet were…

"I don't understand how she was able to capture you, and keep you contained for so long," said Itachi.

"Well I don't know why it took you so long to find us! And besides she packs a mean punch alright!" retorted Kisame.

"Are you going to kill her…or?"

Kisame honestly hadn't really thought about it. He supposed that he should, she knew too much about their movements in River Country. That and she'd devised a way that could easily contain not just him, but other Akatsuki members. That alone was very dangerous, but at the same time, could be pretty useful when one was battling a tailed-beast.

Subconsciously he figured he'd feel kind of guilty about it too. He'd killed people in the past, sure, but this seemed a bit different. Maybe its because she had treated him like a human being while in her company. Maybe it was because he was pretty attracted to her.

"You know normally I would," he began, making sure he had his partners attention, "But I think this little moth can be pretty useful to us."

"How so?"

Kisame rummaged around and pulled out what was left of the chakra ribbon. It didn't stir the Uchiha so he figured that he didn't know what it was.

"No clue what it is? Me either but she used it on me. It has some sort of jutsu woven in that it uses your own chakra against you. I felt like I had two left feet and was permanently drunk when I had it on. I was thinking that we take it, and her back to base. Might prove useful."

Though Itachi was skeptical about it all, he had found the two of them almost passed out from starvation and overexertion only two miles from the main road through River land. But as far as he was concerned Kisame was making _some_ sense. The Uchiha just wanted a bath; he didn't really care about anything else.

"Fine. I'll put her in a genjutsu so she doesn't slow us down until we get there," he volunteered.

Kisame ran a hand back through his hair and whistled, "You have no idea how much easier that makes everything." He looked down at the Aburame that simply mouthed the word no over and over again at him. She made the mistake of glancing back over at the Uchiha, which only made matters worse.

'_Shit.'_

But perhaps the universe was on her side, because at that very moment that she was about to become completely transfixed in the Uchiha's powerful gaze, the Amegakure ninja they had just evaded burst through the underbrush.

What happened next was a blur, not because Sachi's brain couldn't process what was happening, but because it simply happened_. So. Fast._ One of the ninja, sporting a very unattractive haircut/respirator combo was flung up into the treetops by a firm kick from the Uchiha.

His partner however was not so lucky since he was going about ballistic with his kunai twirling and ended up on the receiving end of Samehada. Half of him went east, the other half west. Hot red blood and gore spattered the foliage on either side of the small group. It made a sound akin to rain hitting leaves. Chunky rain.

Sachi sat in utter shock at the scene, gold eyes wide and mouth slightly agape.

With a quick flutter from his cloak Kisame threw Samehada onto one of his shoulders and cast a look down at her. His eyes were bright, his mouth in a sharp grin and he was chuckling in her direction.

Sachi's body stayed transfixed in that position as he took a few steps closer to her. He absolutely radiated power, death, and chakra; enough to send a normal person's senses reeling. More than that she could feel his hunger, a carnal thing stuck somewhere between the bloodlust of a man and the animalistic thrill of the hunt; a hunger for blood, death, and domination.

He reached out a hand slowly, almost as if he were intent on not spooking a wild animal and touched her face. A few drops of blood had rained down upon her cheek and were running down to the corner of her mouth. His hand was warm and gentle as it smeared the blood on her skin.

Sachi was trapped, she couldn't pull her eyes from his, she was his prey, caught in his powerful predatory gaze. Nothing more than a waterlogged moth floating above a hungry shark.

His knuckles grazed her cheekbone and his thumb brushed over her bottom lip, smearing a bit of the red onto her lips. Sachi didn't even realize that her breathing had accelerated because she was too caught up in the fact that at that very moment she was the prey.

His eyes stayed glued to hers for only a moment longer before they moved quickly to her mouth where his thumb lingered. A new emotion flickered in his eyes then and his posture changed. Staring at her lips, now touched with the bright crimson of someone's lifeblood had _twisted_ something deep inside of him. And he _liked_ it.

He could feel Samehada filling him with chakra, his muscles became stronger, his fatigue disappeared, and his senses had sharpened with killing-intent. Now, however, focused on the tenuous Konoha-nin before him his want for another fight, for blood and death, was masked by another want.

In that quick moment Kisame wanted nothing more than _her_.

He wanted all of her, the heat from her skin, the moisture from her breath…

"_Kisame…" _she whispered, her voice trembled in the air and sunk deep into his skin, into his blood, into his very bones.

_That_ was what he wanted most. In that moment as he jerked himself away from her and busied himself with Samehada and growling to the Uchiha to finish off the other guy so they could move on, Kisame Hoshigaki realized that he would go to his grave wanting to hear her say his name with that sort of lust one more time.

_Review if it pleases you._


End file.
